San Diego Ballet presents "Ritmos Latinos: Que Bonito Amor"

Showing:

February 15 - February 17, 2019

Where:

Lyceum Stage

About the Show

SDB’s annual celebration of Latin Music brings three of San Diego Ballet’s signature ballets together in one program! Including the evocative QUE BONITO AMOR, set to a rapturous score of Mariachi music, TANGATA, a sizzling, sensuous exploration of dance and domination, and POR LOS MUERTOS, written and performed live by jazz icon Gilbert Castellanos and San Diego’s hottest jazz musicians!

Director’s Notes

I try to include at least one piece that has a Latin American influence in the season. This year, the company is going one better. We are making a commitment to establish an annual evening of Latin influenced dance in our seasons from now on.

Of course, the centerpiece of the evening is a new orginal composition by Gilbert Castellanos, which we commissioned for the company last year. Dancing to live music is always such a treat for the dancers, but it doesn’t necessarily make things easier, especially, when that music is jazz based. It means that the dancers have to keep more on top of their game because the piece can sound very different from one night to the next. Dance and music should be having a dialogue with each other. In this case, it’s always a new experience from night to night.

THREE LATIN AMERICAN SKETCHES is a piece of music that has been rolling around in my head for over a decade. I have known that I wanted to do something with it, but couldn’t figure out the shape that it should take. In the past, I have used our choreographer’s concert, Dance Gallery, to experiment with possible pieces for the season. That was the case with this piece. I worked on some movement for 2 of the 3 pieces and the larger piece revealed itself to me. While based in classical ballet, the movement has taken some flavor from Mexican imagery and folk dance. It is also a bit of a exploration of a piece of music that sounds simple but is actually very complicated.

The third piece on this program is going to be a bit of a surprise, but here is a hint… it will be a bit of a nod to the Valentine’s season… en español.